The present invention relates to an electrophotographic photoreceptor comprising a conductive support and a photosensitive layer disposed thereover, wherein the photosensitive layer comprises a compound represented by general formula (1) and palladium, the photosensitive layer having a palladium content of 0.01-50 ppm. ##STR00001##

An image forming method forms an image by performing charging, exposing, developing, and transferring in a rotation direction of a rotationally driven photoreceptor, wherein the charging is performed by a roller charging method, exposing a surface of the photoreceptor to light and eliminating charges on the surface of the photoreceptor are included between the developing and the transferring, the photoreceptor includes at least a charge transporting layer and a protective layer laminated on the charge transporting layer on a conductive support, and energy of light for irradiation in the exposing the surface of the photoreceptor to light is in a range of 0.0001 to 500 W/mm.sup.2 on the surface of the photoreceptor.

The present disclosure relates to an electrophotographic photoreceptor which can suppress occurrence of abnormalities such as peeling or falling off of a film from a substrate end portion in a film formation step of a surface layer and maintain and reproduce a stable printing quality even in a use stage after productization, and an image forming apparatus including the same. An electrophotographic photoreceptor includes a cylindrical substrate including a chamfered face located between an substrate outer circumferential surface and a substrate end face, and a surface layer located on the outer circumferential surface. The substrate outer circumferential surface includes a first uneven portion. The chamfered face includes a second uneven portion and a third uneven portion located on a surface of the second uneven portion. A surface roughness Sa of the second uneven portion is larger than a surface roughness Sa of the third uneven portion.

An image forming apparatus includes a photoreceptor that includes a conductive substrate, a photosensitive layer, and an inorganic surface layer arranged in that order, the inorganic surface layer containing a group 13 element and oxygen; a charging unit; an electrostatic image-forming unit; a developing unit; a transfer unit; a cleaning unit that performs cleaning by causing the cleaning blade to contact the surface of the photoreceptor; and a supply unit that supplies a fatty acid metal salt to a position where the cleaning blade in the cleaning unit contacts the photoreceptor. When the fatty acid metal salt is supplied, a portion of the surface of the photoreceptor downstream of the supply unit and upstream of the cleaning unit in a rotating direction of the photoreceptor is covered with a metal derived from the fatty acid metal salt at a coverage of about 40% or more.

Provided is an electrophotographic member capable of reducing a rise time of a fixing apparatus and preventing occurrence of a defective image due to an electrostatic offset. The electrophotographic member has a substrate, an elastic layer, and a surface layer containing a fluororesin, in this order, the elastic layer has a communication hole of which pores are communicated with each other, and an ionic conductive agent is adhered to an inner wall of the communication hole.

An image forming apparatus includes a photoreceptor that includes a conductive substrate, a photosensitive layer, and an inorganic surface layer arranged in that order, the inorganic surface layer containing a group 13 element and oxygen; a charging unit; an electrostatic image-forming unit; a developing unit; a transfer unit; a cleaning unit that performs cleaning by causing the cleaning blade to contact the surface of the photoreceptor; and a supply unit that supplies a fatty acid metal salt to a position where the cleaning blade in the cleaning unit contacts the photoreceptor. When the fatty acid metal salt is supplied, a portion of the surface of the photoreceptor downstream of the supply unit and upstream of the cleaning unit in a rotating direction of the photoreceptor is covered with a metal derived from the fatty acid metal salt at a coverage of about 40% or more.

An image forming method forms an image by performing charging, exposing, developing, and transferring in a rotation direction of a rotationally driven photoreceptor, wherein the charging is performed by a roller charging method, exposing a surface of the photoreceptor to light and eliminating charges on the surface of the photoreceptor are included between the developing and the transferring, the photoreceptor includes at least a charge transporting layer and a protective layer laminated on the charge transporting layer on a conductive support, and energy of light for irradiation in the exposing the surface of the photoreceptor to light is in a range of 0.0001 to 500 W/mm.sup.2 on the surface of the photoreceptor.

Provided is an electrophotographic member capable of reducing a rise time of a fixing apparatus and preventing occurrence of a defective image due to an electrostatic offset. The electrophotographic member has a substrate, an elastic layer, and a surface layer containing a fluororesin, in this order, the elastic layer has a communication hole of which pores are communicated with each other, and an ionic conductive agent is adhered to an inner wall of the communication hole.

An electrophotographic photoreceptor includes a conductive base, and a single-layer photosensitive layer disposed on the conductive base and containing a binder resin, a hole transport material, an electron transport material, and a charge generation material. When a gold electrode is provided on the photosensitive layer so as to have an electrode area of 9.310.sup.1 cm.sup.2, and an electric field of 27 V/m is applied between the gold electrode and the conductive base in an environment at a temperature of 33 C. and a humidity of 80% RH by applying a voltage so that the gold electrode becomes positive, a dark electrical conductivity .sub.d (1/(.Math.cm)) per unit area is about 4.610.sup.14 or less.

An electrophotographic photoreceptor includes an electroconductive substrate, a photosensitive layer provided on the electroconductive substrate, and an inorganic surface layer provided on the photosensitive layer, wherein a layer constituting an outermost surface of the photosensitive layer contains from 30% by weight to 70% by weight of silica particles and contains a biphenyl copolymerization type polycarbonate resin including a structural unit represented by the formula (PCA) and a structural unit represented by the formula (PCB) at a copolymerization ratio (PCA:PCB (molar ratio)) of 10:90 to 50:50: ##STR00001## wherein, R.sup.P1, R.sup.P2, R.sup.P3, and R.sup.P4 each represent a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, an alkyl group having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, a cycloalkyl group having 5 to 7 carbon atoms, or an aryl group having 6 to 12 carbon atoms, and X.sup.P1 represents a phenylene group, a biphenylene group, a naphthylene group, an alkylene group, or a cycloalkylene group.